Game apparatus



Feb. 2 7, 1945.

J. M. BUCKLEY GAME APPARATUS Filed Dec. 31, 1942 Patented Feb. 27, 1945UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

2,370,229 GAME APPARATUS James M. Buckley, Chicago, 111.

Application December 31, 1942, Serial No. 470,734

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in game apparatus and it consistsoi the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

One of the objects of the invention is to rovide a game apparatus which,while not limited to such use, is adapted 'to be used by'a number ofplayers and which will aflord an instructive and educational pastime forthe players in the building or developing of words, the number ofletters in said words and the first and last letters thereof beindetermined by a play of the apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction for thepurpose indicated having movable parts which must be actuated, whichparts shall be so designed as to minimize danger of breakage, thusincreasing the potential life of the game apparatus.

Other objects of the invention, as well as the advantages thereof willmore fully appear as the specification proceeds.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a top plan view of a game apparatus embodying the preferredform of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the apparatus as taken onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring now in detail to that embodiment of the invention illustratedin the drawing, 5 indicates the base for the apparatus and which ispreferably square in shape. At the center of said base i an upright post6, the bottom end 1 of which is engaged in an upwardly opening recess 8in said base. Said post has a radial flange or shoulder 9 that engagesupon the top surface of the base about the recess Ii. The post is formedabove the flange or shoulder 9, with a plurality of stepped cylindricalparts lI-il and I2 respectively of successively reduced diameters, theupper ends of the portions It and H forming radial shoulders for thebottom ends of the parts I l and Rotatably rnounted on the post 6 is aplurality of circular discs [3-H and E5 of different diameters. The discl3, which is the bottom one, is of the largest diameter and has rotativebearing on the post part The disc l, which is the top one, is of thesmallest diameter and has rotative bearing on the post part I2 while thedisc M which is the intermediate one, is of a diameter between those ofthe discs I3 and I5 and has rotative bearing on the post part H. Afinishing button i6 is disposed upon the post part I2 above the disc [-5and serves to prevent displacement thereof.

Preferably, but not necessarily so, the base member 5 is provided alongits four sides with upstami-ng walls H" of such height as to dispose thetop edges thereof in substantially the place .of the top surface of thebutton l6 as best appears in Fig. 2.

cessive pluralities oi the unit numbers 3" "4 5 and 6" respectively.

With the discs arranged as described, it is apparent from Fig. 1 thatthe marginal part of the disc I4 is visible outside the edge of the disc[5 and the marginal part of the disc I3 is visible outside of the discM. The visible marginal arts of the discs l4 and [Bare each providedwith radial delineations 2| and 22 which divide said parts into spacesor areas 23 and 24 respectively. In the said spaces 23 and 24 areprovided characters in the form of letters 25 "and 26 respectively andwhich letters are those found in words of three, four, five and sixletters each and more commonly used in ordinary language.

With the stepped arrangement of the discs in conjunction with thedifferences in diameters thereof, said discs when spun or whirled aboutthe axis of the post 6 will stop at different times due to differencesin kinetic energy which the parts contain;

In connection with the rotatably mounted discs just above mentioned, Iprovide an indicator which is common to all of said discs. Thisindicator, which bears the reference numeral 21, comprises a memberrising from the base 5 and arranged radially with respect to the axis ofthe post 6. Said member is preferably disposed cornerwise of the baseand is fixed at the bottom thereto while one end thereof overhangs aperipheral marginal portion of all of said discs as best appears inFig; 1. The member 21 is stepped along the underside of saidw end as at28'29 and 30 respectively and each step is associated with and is spacedslightly above the marginal portion of the associateddisc l3l4 or 15. Inthis instance the step 28 is associated with the disc I3, the step 29 isassociated with the disc l4 and the step 30 is associated with the discl5 a obvious from Fig. 2.

In the play of the apparatus, all of the discs are given a simultaneousspinning action or rotation and due to difference in kinetic energy,they will generally stop at difierent times and in different positions.Whensaid discs have stopped, say in the position shown in Fig. 1, theindicator part 30 in connection with the character numeral 5 willindicatethat the word to be built or developed, has five letterstherein. The indicator part 29 will indicate that the first letter ofthe word is s" and the indicator part 30 will indicate that the lastletter of the word is r. As an example of such a word the word saver ismentioned.

The game is easy to play and is instructive and educational and afiordsan enjoyable pastime for the players.

It will be observed that the indicator is a stamass to give good action.Again, because of their shape, there is little danger of the operatorbreaking them. Hence, the game apparatus will give long and satisfactoryservice.

While the discs are shown as being solid or imperforate throughout,except for the central opening, it will be understood that they need.not necessarily be solid throughout. Hence the term disc in the claimsis not to be construed as covering only a solid member.

While in describing the invention I have referred in detail to the formand arrangement of the parts involved, the same is to be considered onlyin the illustrative sense so that I do not wish to be limited theretoexcept as may be specifically set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A game apparatus of the kind described, embodying therein a pluralityof rotatably mounted discs, each disc having indicia positioned on itsface in an area around its axis, and a single relatively stationaryindicating means having dif ferent defined portions which arerespectively individual to the indicia carried by each disc.

2". A game apparatus of the kind described and embodying therein aplurality of rotatably mounted discs, each having an annular portiondivided into spaces, the spaces of one disc each having a numeralthereon indicating the number of letters in a Word to be built and thespaces 'of each of the other discs each having a letter thereon, theletters in the spaces of one of the other of said discs designating thefirst letter of the Word to be built and the letters in the spaces ofthe other of said other discs designating the last letter of said word,and a single nonrotative indicator member having defined portionsrespectively individual to the numerals and the letters of all of saiddiscs.

3. A game apparatus of the kind described and embodying therein aplurality of rotatably mounted discs, each having an annular portiondivided into spaces, the spaces of one disc each having a numeralthereon indicating the number of letters in a word to be built and thespaces of each of the other discs each having a letter thereon, theletters in the spaces of one of the other of said discs designating thefirst letter of the word to be built and the letters in the spaces ofthe other of said other discs designating the last letter of said word,and a single fixed indicator member having defined parts respectivelyindividually arranged to each of said discs.

4. A game apparatus of the kind described and embodying therein aplurality of discs arranged one above the other and all rotatable abouta common axis, an annular portion of each disc being divided intospaces, the spaces of one disc each having a numeral thereon indicatingthe number of letters in the word to be built and the spaces on each ofthe other discs each having a letter thereon, the letters in the spacesof one of said other discs designating the first letter of the word tobe built and the letter in the spaces of the other of said other discsdesignating the last letter of said word and a single nonrotativeindicator member having defined portions respectively individual to thenumerals and letters of all of said discs. I

5. A game apparatus of the kind described and embodying therein a.plurality 01' discs arranged one above the other and all rotatable abouta common axis, an annular portionof each disc being divided into spaces,the spaces of one disc each having a numeral thereon indicating thenumber of letters in the word to be built and the spaces on each of theother discs each having a letter thereon, the letters in the spaces ofone of said other discs designating the first letter of the word to bebuilt and the letter in the spaces of the other of said other discsdesignating the last letter of said word, and a fixed indicator memberhaving parts overhanging said discs and adapted to be associated witheach of said discs.

6. A game apparatus of the kind described and embodying therein aplurality of discs arranged one above the other and all rotatable abouta common axis, said discs being of successively decreasing diameters sothat annular portions of all discs are presented to view, the annularportion of each disc being divided into spaces, the spaces of one disceach having a numeral thereon indicating the number of letters in theword to be built and the spaces on each of the other discs each havingletters thereon,

the letters in the spaces of one of said other discs designating thefirst letter in the word to be built and the letter in the spaces of theother of said other discs designating the last letter of said word, anda fixed indicator means having stepped parts, one step overhanging eachrespective one of said discs and close to the same so as to beassociated with the numerals and letters in the annular portionsthereof.

7. A game apparatus embodying therein three discs of different sizes,means mounting said discs upon a base for free independent rotationabout a common axis, indicia arranged on said discs in a plurality ofdifierent areas around said common axis, and an indicator member fixedto said base and having defined parts respectively individual to saidindicia on said different areas of said discs.

8. A game apparatus embodying therein three discs of different sizes andarranged one above the other, means mounting said discs upon a base fora free independent rotation about a common axis, indicia arranged uponthe peripheral margin of said discs and concentric with said axis, andan indicator member fixed to said base and having stepped parts on itsbottom edge that overhang said margins and are respectively individualto the indicia thereon.

JALTES M. BUCKLEY.

